Linus Torvalds just released Linux 5.0-rc1, what was formerly known as Linux 4.21 over the past two weeks. While the bumping was rather arbitrary as opposed to a major change necessitating the big version bump, this next version of the Linux kernel does come with some exciting changes and new features (of course, our Twitter followers already have known Linux was thinking of the 5.0 re-brand from 4.21). Here is our original feature overview of the new material to find in this kernel.

The merge window is now closed so we have a firm look at what's new for this next kernel version. As is standard practice, there will be seven to eight weekly release candidates before Linux 5.0 is officially ready for release around the end of February or early Match. Of the new features for Linux 5.0 below are the highlights from our close monitoring of the Linux kernel mailing list and Git repositories over the holidays. There are lots of CPU and GPU improvements as usual, the long-awaited AMD FreeSync display support, the Raspberry Pi Touchscreen is now supported by the mainline kernel, there is a new console font for HiDPI/retina displays, initial open-source NVIDIA RTX Turing display support, Adiantum data encryption support, Logitech high resolution scrolling support, the I3C subsystem was finally merged, and a lot more to get excited about as the first kernel cycle of 2019.

Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) Drivers / Graphics

- AMD FreeSync support is easily the biggest AMDGPU feature we've seen in a while. The Linux 5.0 kernel paired with Mesa 19.0 can now yield working support for FreeSync / VESA Adaptive-Sync over DisplayPort connections! This was one of the few missing features from the open-source AMD Linux driver.

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